The Best Soy Latte You Ever Had, and Me

The whole reason I wanted to put together a mixtape that represented music from the year 2001 is because I wanted to do something that involved the song “Drops of Jupiter.” It’s a horrible song, isn’t it? The lyrics are, word for word, probably some of the worst ever committed to paper, but Train sells the whole thing so earnestly and so powerfully that, despite just how atrocious and saccharine of a pop song it is, you can’t help but admire it.

It also represents, for me anyway, a pre-9/11 world, and is one of the few songs that capture the innocence that was lost on a Tuesday in September, fifteen years ago. It bottles the essence of a time we can never get back.

Can we be nostalgic for something that isn’t twenty years old yet? Sure. You can be nostalgic for any time or place.

2001 was a big year for both me, and the way the world would be reshaped in a single instant. It was the year I started dating, much to my surprise; it was the year I graduated from high school and left for college; it was the year I met my wife.

Some of these songs you may have forgotten about—specifically Dave Navarro’s “Rexall,” which I completely forgot about until very recently, which is yet another thing that prompted me to put this tape together.

Some of these songs I fudged the timing a little on—both “I’m Like A Bird” and “Hanging By A Moment” are technically from the fall of 2000, but were not released as singles, and did not see major success until 2001.

Some of these songs are horrible. Horrible songs are released every year, but sometimes it’s the horrible songs that stick with you like Blu Cantrell or City High.

Some of these songs are amazing, like “Pyramid Song” and “This Woman’s Work,” which still continues to be one of the most devastating things I have ever heard.

Some of these are songs you have maybe never heard of before. So if that's the case, please enjoy.

There’s certainly more I could have included, but this, to some extent, is what the year 2001 sounded like to me.

The Best Soy Latte You Ever Had And Me - 2001 (right click, save as, etc.)

Wish You Were Here by Incubus

Izzo (H.O.V.A.) by Jay Z

Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!) by Blu Cantrell

When It's Over by Sugar Ray

Lapdance by N.E.R.D.

Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse

Rexall by Dave Navarro

Sometimes by Ours

What Would You Do by City High

For Nancy by Pete Yorn

If You Don't, Don't by Jimmy Eat World

New York, New York by Ryan Adams

I'm Like A Bird by Nelly Furtado

Fallin' by Alicia Keys

What I Really Meant to Say by Cyndi Thompson

U Got it Bad by Usher

Stay Together For The Kids by Blink 182

Trouble by Coldplay

Pyramid Song by Radiohead

This Woman's Work by Maxwell

Drops of Jupiter by Train